Gray hustled her down the stairs, past the social rooms and out the door leading into the small parking lot. A blast of humid air hit her in the face, sucking the breath right out of her lungs. Not that she had much to spare.

When they stepped onto the pavement, she realized she hadn’t gotten her shoes. She halted and stifled a giggle.

Gray stopped and shot her a sideways look. “Something wrong?”

She looked curiously at him. He seemed so…pissed. So out of sorts.

“My shoes,” she said. “I left them. I need to go back.”

“You’re not going back in there,” he ground out.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her with a look.

“I’ll buy you another pair. You’re not going back.”

Some part of her wanted to tell him to fuck off, but another part, the cautious, smart part of her warned her not to push right now.

He urged her forward again, his hand at her elbow. He guided her between her car and his truck, but instead of opening her door, he opened the passenger side of his truck.

“Get in,” he directed.

“But my car!”

“I’ll get it for you later,” he said. “Get in. I’ll take you home.”

She stared at him for a long moment before sighing. With a resigned huff, she climbed in, and he closed the door behind her. She sat in the dark, staring straight ahead until he walked around and opened the driver’s side. He slid in beside her and thrust the key into the ignition.

She watched from her periphery but he never looked her way. He backed out of the lot and headed down the long driveway, his gaze locked in front of him.

“Want to tell me what all that was about?” she asked when they turned onto the highway.

She heard something that sounded like a grunt. Unwilling to let the silence continue, she turned in her seat to face him.

“It was nothing,” he muttered.

Her face twisted with incredulity. “Nothing?” She stared at him in shock. “I can still feel the marks on my ass, feel your fingers in my pussy. I can still taste you in my mouth.”

He gaped at her, his eyes wide with surprise. “Don’t be crude, Faith. It doesn’t suit you.”

“Why did you show up here, Gray? How did you know I’d be here? Because I don’t believe in coincidences.”

He stared out the windshield, his jaw clenched.

“Gray?”

“I saw your day planner,” he mumbled.

“That doesn’t explain why you showed up, why you stepped in, why you—”

“Okay, Faith, I get the point. Really, I do. Can we just drop it?”

She sucked her cheeks in until her lips pursed. Then with a shake of her head, she turned her back to him and stared out her window.

The traffic passed in a blur. The distant glow of the Houston skyline reflected off her window and bathed the night with an iridescent shine.

Had she imagined the whole damn thing? Because right now it all seemed the product of one too many vivid dreams. Good dreams, mind you. Really, really good dreams.

Unfortunately for her, the man behind those dreams was treating her like his worst nightmare.

What the hell had happened back there? And what the hell was Gray’s problem? He acted jealous, but she wasn’t anything to him. One stolen kiss didn’t grant a license to spank her ass. Even if she loved every minute of it.

“You need help,” she muttered. The serious lying-on-a-couch-across-from-a-shrink kind of help.

She pressed her forehead to the warm glass and closed her eyes. How had things gotten so fucked up? She couldn’t even blame Gray. He’d actually salvaged what was otherwise an exercise in complete disappointment.

Why had she reacted to him and not Brent?

Because it had been real with Gray. Not a pretense. Not a show put on more for the spectator than the participant. Brent had merely toyed with her. Given her the appearance of dominance. Gray? He was a completely different story.

A fascinating, seductive story. One she wanted to watch unfold. Wanted to experience unfolding.

She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with him, but she’d learned quite a lot tonight. Namely, that what she was looking for was well under her nose. His name was Gray. And he was more than capable of feeding her darkest, most secret desires.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, Faith didn’t immediately move to open her door. Gray opened his and walked around to open it for her, but still, she sat there.

“Faith,” he said, holding out his hand. “It’s time you got home.”

Her chest gave a jerk as she let out a dry laugh. Then she turned her stare on him.

“You’re just going to ignore what happened?” She got down and stood toe-to-toe with him, craning her neck to look into his eyes. “Gray, we didn’t just share a kiss, trade a few gropes and back away.”

He turned his head upward to stare at the sky, his face drawn tight.

“It was a lot more than that, and you’re pretending it didn’t happen?”

He lowered his head again but didn’t look her in the eye. “I need to go get your car,” he said. “You go on in. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“How are you going to get my car?” she asked in exasperation.

“Faith, please. Just go inside.”

She threw up her hands and stalked off toward her door. Whatever was up his ass wasn’t going to be dislodged tonight. But damn it, tomorrow he was going to talk to her.

She jammed her key into the lock and shoved her door open. A hand touched her shoulder as she started to go in. She turned around to see Gray standing there. A surge of hope rose within her.

“I need the keys,” he said simply.

With a scowl, she slapped the keys against his chest, and without waiting for him to take them, she whirled around and left him standing in the doorway. She slammed the door behind her, fuming the entire time.

She clutched her arms around her waist and headed for the bathroom. Right now a long, hot bath was the first order of business. Sorting out her cluster fuck of an evening could come later.

CHAPTER 19

Gray stalked to Micah’s apartment, trying to gain control of his raging emotions. He couldn’t even begin to explain what had happened at the damn sex club. What demon possessed him to cross the line with Faith he didn’t know. All he did know was that she had set fire to his senses in a way no other woman ever had.

Never would he have imagined she would have been so fiercely responsive. He’d intended to teach her a lesson. To prove to her that having her ass spanked wasn’t what she wanted. God knew she hadn’t responded to the pussy Dom wannabe.

He cringed as he remembered just how hard he’d marked her ass after he’d stepped in. He groaned as his cock tightened all over again. He’d expected her to hate it, to beg him to stop, and then he could tell her to get her ass out of the place and never come back.

Instead, she reacted wildly, wanting more. And when he’d touched her…Jesus. She’d come immediately, the sweet juices of her pussy flooding his hand. He didn’t want to think of the implications of that.

He pounded on Micah’s door, knowing he was going to get bitched at again for disturbing him. A few minutes later, Micah swung the door open, a resigned expression on his face. To Gray’s surprise, Micah was dressed.

“So did you find Faith?” Micah demanded.

“Yeah, she’s home.” Gray shifted and shoved both hands into his pockets. “Look, I know I’m probably interrupting again, but I need you to ride over to the damn sex club with me and drive Faith’s car back for her. I brought her home with me.”

“You’re not disturbing anything,” Micah said. “I sent her home after you came over the first time.”

Gray cocked an eyebrow in surprise.

“Picturing Faith at The House was kind of a mood killer,” Micah muttered. “Let me get my wallet, and I’ll hop in with you.”

Gray nodded and walked back out to his truck. Mood killer? He wished seeing Faith bent over, ass in the air had killed his attraction. Instead, it had fired every single one of his kinkiest fantasies.